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An image of the Tenzing Montes peaks on Pluto created with New Horizons data and released on July 10, 2018. The mountains range from about 1.8 miles to 3.7 miles (3 to 6 kilometers) above the dwarf planet's surface.Credit: Paul Schenk/Lunar and Planetary Institute

Here is a family story of Pope John Paul II, an intimate tale of his humanity.

During the summer of 1942, two women in Krakow, Poland, were denounced as Jews, taken to the city's prison, held there for a few months and then sent to the Belzec death camp, where in October they were killed in primitive Nazi gas chambers by carbon monoxide from diesel engines.

Their names were Frimeta Gelband and Salomea Zierer; they were sisters. As it happens, Frimeta was my wife's grandmother. Salomea -- known as Salla -- had two daughters, one of whom survived the war and one of whom did not.

Mesut Özil and his Germany teammates are out of the World Cup. (Photo by Ina Fassbender/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Germany, the reigning champion, has been sensationally eliminated in the first round of World Cup 2018. Die Mannschaft was bidding to become only the third team to win consecutive World Cup titles, but instead, one of the pre-tournament favorites is out at the group stage.

After a surprise defeat to Mexico in their opening match, the Germans gave themselves a real chance with a last-minute free kick from Toni Kroos to beat Sweden. With the Germans needing to win against already-eliminated South Korea on Wednesday, most expected them to advance, but a shock 2-0 defeat leaves them bottom of the group and on their way home. Here are five reasons why.

An 11-year-old homeless boy’s meeting with Badgi the dog resulted in a genuine and true friendship. All day long, Rommel, the boy, begs for money and in the evening, he shares his food with the dog. In return, Badgi protects the boy from anyone who tries to steal his money.

It may seem unfair for Robredo — and absurd, too — to be compared with Rodrigo Duterte, but, having been cast by fate as his vice president, she just has to stand the comparison, if only for the hoped-for enlightenment of those fooled by Duterte or misinformed about her or otherwise requiring to be set straight

Vergel O. SantosMay 26, 2018

Leni Robredo has good political instincts, not the instincts for posturing and compromise that get votes but the instincts for righteous and reformist leadership that could save lost nations like ours.

A lawyer and an economist as well, Robredo is challenging the operating culture of patronage, in which justice and other beneficence are trickled down, rationed as it were, by wealthy and powerful padrinos; she wants social development directed in reverse, from the ground up, as only natural and logical, with the poor as its first and main beneficiaries, as only fair.

It may seem unfair for Robredo — and absurd, too — to be compared with Rodrigo Duterte, but, having been cast by fate as his vice president, she just has to stand the comparison, if only for the hoped-for enlightenment of those fooled by Duterte or misinformed about her or otherwise requiring to be set straight.

Harvard scientists say these 5 things can prolong your life by a decade

May 26, 2018

You’ll have to make some trade-offs if you want those extra years

Getty ImagesHarvard researchers say they’ve figured out which five habits lead to a longer life.

ALESSANDRA MALITOREPORTER

Want to live 10 years longer? You may have to revamp your lifestyle.

There are five habits that, when done together, could add more than a decade to your life expectancy, according to a study released Monday by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The good news: 10 years is a lot of extra time. The bad news: You’ll have to cut out junk food and being a couch potato.

Here’s what the study recommends you do:

• Eat a healthy diet

• Exercise 30 minutes or more a day

• Maintain a healthy weight (Specifically, a body mass index between 18.5 and 24.9 — you can find yours here.)

• Don’t drink too much alcohol (No more than one 5 oz. glass of wine per day for women, and two glasses for men)

Five leaders’ wives and their obscene shopping habits, from Rosmah Mansor and Grace Mugabe to Marie Antoinette

Following the downfall of Rosmah Mansor, Malaysia’s former first lady, we look at spouses who are known for their love of luxury and designer goods and weren’t shy about raiding their nation’s coffers to fund their shopping sprees

Wednesday, 23 May, 2018Simon O'Reilly

Rosmah Mansor, Malaysia’s former first lady, is the latest in a long line of spouses who devoted their time to acquiring and spending money, usually from their cash-strapped nations, while their citizens were suffering or starving.

Rosmah Mansor(aka The Bag Lady)

Born 1951. Second wife of Najib Razak, the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

On May 18 this year, Malaysian police seized a large number of designer handbags, many of them stuffed with cash and jewellery, during searches of homes and offices linked to Najib. The former prime minister has been barred from leaving the country after allegations that he oversaw the looting of billions of dollars from development company 1MDB.

His luxury-loving spouse Rosmah is said to have spent US$8 million in seven years in designer shops and US$400,000 on anti-ageing products. She owns a US$10 million, 30-carat diamond ring, while her husband’s salary was US$130,000 a year.

As the Philippines commemorates the 134th birthday of Manuel L. Quezon, he is also honored by thousands of Jewish families who have survived and prospered because they found a home in Manila at the darkest time in their history as a race.

It was a point of no return.

German and Austrian Jews—1,200 of them—narrowly escaped Adolf Hitler’s gas chambers just before the German dictator rounded up 6 million Jews who were eventually tortured and murdered in his concentration camps.

When the complete history of this Supreme Court is written, the role of Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa as the clarion voice of conscience and clarity in the hardest cases will finally be given sharp relief. As I have learned in the Marcos burial case and in the martial-law-in-Mindanao decisions, Caguioa’s dissenting opinion is the right first read after the ponencia. His dissents — in brisk, bracing language — offer a comprehensive, point-by-point rebuttal (or perhaps the more precise term is evisceration) of the majority opinion; they are messages from an alternate universe, where justice prevails over power and reason over force.

He has done it again, in Republic v. Sereno. He begins with an unflinching look at the true stakes: “This quo warranto petition is brought before the Court purportedly to test the integrity of the Chief Justice. However, what it really tests is the integrity of the Court …. By ousting the Chief Justice through the expediency of holding that the Chief Justice failed this ‘test’ of integrity, it is actually the Court that fails.” (That one word, “expediency,” is telling.)

Israel said all 86 countries with diplomatic missions in Israel were invited to the event [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]

The United States has formally opened its embassy in Jerusalem amid deadly protests in the Gaza Strip.

The move on Monday followed a December 2017 decision by US President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocate the US mission there from Tel Aviv.

Trump's controversial declaration was widely condemned by the international community, with the United Nations General Assembly rejecting by a huge majority the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Jakarta(CNN) A husband and wife used their four children in a string of deadly suicide attacks on three churches in the Indonesian city of Surabaya that left seven people dead, according to the country's ranking police official.

The family included two daughters, aged 9 and 12 years old, said Head Gen. Tito Karnavian. The young girls were present when their mother detonated one of the bombs, and the couple's two teenage sons carried out a separate attack on another church.

Earlier reports indicated at least 10 people died in the Sunday morning attacks, but Karnavian said during a news conference that seven victims were killed.

The six bombers also died, Karnavian said. Investigators believe the parents belong to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, a terrorist group that lends its support to ISIS in Indonesia, the police general said.

Through its Amaq News Agency, ISIS claimed responsibility for what it called "martyrdom attacks" in the port city on the east coast of Java Island but provided no proof to substantiate its claim. Authorities have not confirmed the claim.

I was 500 kilometers away from Manila when the news broke that the Supreme Court had rendered a decision ousting its own head, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. I had just attended three court hearings, and I was preparing to enjoy a quiet weekend in Cagayan Valley, my home region.

News of the ouster flooded my Facebook feed with angry posts from friends. My absence from the capital city, where most of the outrage is expressed, afforded me with a vantage point that infused perspective, from a distance, to this controversy.

There have been four Supreme Court decisions that earned condemnation because of widespread belief that they weakened the foundations of our system of government.

THE STORIES are tragic. They are horrifying and shocking. They are too compelling for any journalist to ignore.

But, as the bodies started to pile up, the stories became more difficult to report. Government officials seem to want to bury the victims as mere statistics in President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs.

Journalists have had to rely on data-driven journalism and lots of leg work, devote many hours talking to victims, their families, witnesses, and police investigators; and review investigation reports and other documents; and immersing in the commuunity. Over time, it became more difficult to obtain documents because of official restrictions.

From frogs that give birth through their mouths to crabs with 6-foot legs, these animals are some of the strangest you’ll hopefully never have to see.

10 Yeti Crab

AP Images

Besides just looking strange, these crabs are exposed to some pretty extreme environments. Discovered in 2010, the yeti crab (Kiwa hirsuta) lives in thermal vents near Antarctica that reach temperatures of up to 720 °F (380 °C). Their white coloring and strange hair patterns are thought to be adaptations to these extreme environments. The thermal vents, while ridiculously hot inside, are surrounded by freezing waters. This forces all the yeti crabs to cram themselves into a small area. (One marine biologist found 600 of these crabs in one vent!) Females, however, must venture into the dangerously cold waters to brood, as the thermal vents are too high in sulfur content for the crabs’ eggs to survive. The mother yeti crab rarely survives the cold water, usually dying of starvation after her children hatch. As for those hairy arms, they are a garden of sorts, growing bacteria that the crab then feeds on.